(Reuters) – Marnus Labuschagne said he holds himself to a “higher standard” after his struggles in the opening Ashes test and is looking to rediscover top form in time for the second match at Lord’s.
Labuschagne fell for a golden duck in the first innings and scored 13 runs in the second, losing his place at the top of the world test rankings to England’s Joe Root.
Australia won the match by two wickets after a gripping five-day battle at Edgbaston.
“They were very uncharacteristic dismissals to how I’ve usually played,” Labuschagne said. “That’s why I was pretty frustrated with myself to get out that way and asked myself the question, ‘Why did I play at those deliveries?’.
“I’ve come up with my own summation of what that is. Now it’s if there’s anything I can do tactically or technically to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“It’s a rarity that I’d play at those balls, so it’s not something I’m going to overthink, but I hold myself to a much higher standard than those dismissals.”
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting backed Labuschagne to return to his best.
“I think he’s over complicating things a little bit,” Ponting told The ICC Review.
“He has to trust and believe in what’s made him the number two-ranked test batsman in the world for the last couple of years and go back to trusting that.
“I would actually tell him to go and watch some footage and watch some video of when he’s actually played his best, and remember those things and go and do that all over again.”
The second test starts at Lord’s on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
